Past Events

The 2018 Annual Bioethics Conference explored the legacy of the 1968 report from the Harvard Medical School committee that proposed the concept of “brain death” as a new criterion for determining human death, making possible the procurement of “living” organs from bodies deemed to be “dead.” The conference explored how this report facilitated the development…

Description Anne Case and Angus Deaton shocked the world with their 2015 report that noted an increase in all-cause mortality among middle-aged white non-Hispanic men and women in the United States. This pattern is not occurring in other groups within the United States and Europe. Their report and others have linked this trend to so-called…

Description With growing neuroscientific research on sports concussions, states have revised their policies and statutes. Yet at present we have limited research on how these state sports concussion laws are working. This panel explored the intersection of neuroscience and law in the context of preventing, detecting, and treating youth sports concussions. This event was free…

Description Please join the Harvard Health Law Society; the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics; and the Office of Career Services at Harvard Law School for a panel discussion with partners in law firms and in-house general counsels focused on health law and learn more about the breadth of career options available…

Description The criminal law often sees love and passion turned into violence. How does this happen? And how should law respond? Many doctrines, most notably the “heat of passion” defense – which historically has been used disproportionately to excuse the crimes of men against women – rely on a distinction between defendants who acted “emotionally”…

Description The Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation hosted this panel session with leading health care journalists about the rapidly shifting health policy landscape in Washington DC. Panelists discussed the high drama of a tumultuous year in health policy that has seen repeated congressional attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, the resignation of…

Please join the Harvard Health Law Society; the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics; and the Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation at Harvard Law School and the Massachusetts Bar Association for a panel discussion with advocates and practitioners focused on health law. Panelists Lauren Birchfield Kennedy (HLS ’09) is the…

Michael Frakes is a Professor of Law at Duke Law School and a faculty research fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research. He is generally interested in empirical research in the areas of health law and innovation policy. He will discuss the future of the ACA now that the CSRs have been eliminated. This…

Professor Michael Stein is the co-founder and Executive Director of the Harvard Law School Project on Disability. An internationally acclaimed expert on disability law and policy, Stein participated in the drafting of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, works with disabled persons organizations around the world, actively consults with international…

Description By some measures, as much as 5% of health care spending can be linked to fraud, and dangerous practices from for-profit medical product companies have led to widespread negative health outcomes. Health care providers and others directly involved in the health care marketplace are often in an optimal position to recognize problematic business practices….